Welcome, 2017

Well friends, it’s already March. I’ve had plenty of time to think this through, so I believe I’m finally ready to list my goals for the next 9 months.

The last year, from February of 2016 to February of 2017, has been pretty brutal for me.

One year ago, my husband and I and our friend Lukas had a bizarre car accident. There are a few theories about what actually happened, but here’s what we know for sure: someone placed large rocks in the middle of the road. There is an apartment complex next to the section of road where the rocks were placed, and we believe the culprit grabbed the large display rocks from the apartment complex sign at the front entrance. It was dark out and the three of us had decided to go to a late movie. The stretch of road with the rocks also did not have adequate lighting, as it was between street lights. We pulled up to that section of road, and I vaguely noticed a car pulling over on the right shoulder. Almost immediately after I noticed the car, Justin pointed out that a person was crossing the road. Having already swerved to the left to give the slowing car some room, I swerved further left to miss the pedestrian. And that’s when we hit the rocks. The car pulling over had been the first victim of the rocks, and the pedestrian in the road has been trying to move the rocks out of the road completely. It was a very jarring experience for all of us, and Justin still suffers PTSD from the accident. Somehow, our car was not totaled. There was $4000 worth of damage to the undercarriage of the car, and we had to drive a rental for a little over a month.

That car accident began a chain of events that made the last 12 months absolutely grueling. Lots of small things throughout the year added to the stress, but three main things put a scorch mark on 2016 for me:

After living in the same apartment for 6 years, Justin and I decided to finally upgrade to a two-bedroom apartment. The move was unexpectedly expensive and provided several hurdles along the way, including my purse being stolen out of my brother’s car.

The apartment itself left much to be desired; it was infested with bugs, had very visible and irreparable foundation damage, our upstairs neighbors were absolutely unruly and rude, and it was like living in a cave, only having one window in the spare bedroom that offered any light. We stayed in the apartment for 7 months, and, after Justin spoke with the property manager, we were able to get out of the lease early.

I began to experience panic attacks on a daily basis as my already-hectic job became toxic. Immense pressure was put on me to do the work of at least 3 people; if this goal was not met for whatever reason, I was either manipulated with false promises of my desired advancement in my position, or I was emotionally abused with guilt or calm, cruel berating. My job began to take its toll on my psyche, and I had an emotional breakdown at the end of July. I wanted to seek counseling, but after discussing it with my doctor, I began medication for GAD in mid-August.

Thankfully, near the end of the year, the bad luck finally began to run out. My new medication started helping me. I transferred to another team in my company and now have a better job, as well as a better work-life balance. Justin and I ended up buying our first home, and we love it.

It’s sobering to think what all has happened in the last 12 months; I can safely say it’s been one hell of a year.

But now, we are finally out of 2016. We can finally move onto better and happier things.

And so, here are some of my goals for the next year that I posted on my Facebook page. I’m looking forward to every one of them.